Country of Residence
Nigeria
Age
20
Project title
EcoRise Nexus
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
EcoRise Nexus empowers young people to become sustainability changemakers through environmental education, digital innovation, and waste-to-wealth training, helping them turn waste into value and ideas into action.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
https://eco-rising-nexus.lovable.app
Project Category
My project is an existing project that I started
Project Stage
Scaling (We’re expanding impact to new locations or in new and innovative ways)
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
The spark came when I came across an Instagram post by a 17-year-old girl making waves in climate and sustainability. She was training young people like herself to turn plastic waste into useful products and earn money from it. I remember thinking, “If someone in my age range can do this, why can't we create something similar?” At the time, EcoRise Nexus was mainly focused on raising environmental awareness among young people through education and community activities. But seeing what this girl was doing made me realise we could go beyond awareness and help young people develop practical skills they could use to solve problems and create economic opportunities for themselves. That was my aha moment. I began researching how we could make this happen and eventually decided to focus our waste-to-wealth initiative on discarded fabrics, old clothes, and other textiles. I also began building a team by opening applications for executive members and volunteers who shared the vision. What started as an initiative to promote sustainability began taking a new shape in my mind. I saw the opportunity to help young people understand that waste is not always useless; sometimes, it is a resource waiting for someone creative enough to see its value.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
One thing that has always bothered me is how we throw things away without thinking about what they could become. Old clothes, cartons, plastic spoons, and other disposable items are often treated as useless, so we dump them. Meanwhile, many young people have ideas and potential but lack opportunities to learn practical skills or explore ways to earn from their creativity. I asked myself: what if we could bring these two problems together and turn them into an opportunity? For me, sustainability should be more than telling people not to litter or encouraging them to keep their surroundings clean. What if we could teach a child to look at an empty carton, a discarded plastic spoon, or an old piece of clothing and imagine something useful they could create from it and even earn money through it one day? That is the change I want to see through EcoRise Nexus. I want young people to understand that they don't have to wait until they are older or have plenty of resources before they can make a difference. Sometimes, the solution starts with what we already have around us. By teaching children and young people to transform discarded materials into useful products, we hope to nurture their creativity, build practical skills, and encourage more responsible environmental habits.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
We decided to take a different approach. Instead of only teaching young people about environmental problems, we want to give them the opportunity to do something about them. Through EcoRise Nexus, we are developing practical training where children and young people can learn to turn everyday waste materials like old clothes, fabric scraps, cartons, plastic spoons, and other disposable items into useful products. We want them to experiment, get creative, and discover what they can make from things that would otherwise be thrown away. Our flagship project, Project GreenMinds, will focus on helping children develop these skills early. We want them to see that waste can be a resource, that creativity can solve everyday problems, and that the things they learn can even open up opportunities to earn money in the future. Our goal is to equip 500 children with practical waste-to-wealth knowledge and skills by May 2028. Beyond this, we use digital tools, including AI-assisted videos and educational comics, to make sustainability education more interesting and easier to understand. We also plan to establish EcoRise Nexus Ambassadorship cohorts that will encourage young people to share what they learn and promote sustainable practices in their communities. One thing is clear to us: young people should not have to wait until they are older to start making a difference. Sometimes, all they need is the opportunity to learn, try something new, and discover what they are capable of creating. Like I always believe, young people are not just the leaders of tomorrow, we are the Changemakers of today.
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
So far, EcoRise Nexus has reached young people through sustainability webinars, AI-generated educational videos, comics, and physical outreach activities. We hosted an international webinar titled “Young People for the Planet: Global Voices, Global Action,” which brought together young guest speakers and attendees from more than five countries. We received over 900 registrations and positive feedback from participants, showing us that young people are interested in learning about sustainability and being part of the conversation. We have also visited two schools and an orphanage, where 131 children participated in our practical sustainability training. We taught them how to transform old cartons into gift and jewellery boxes using fabrics, and how to combine leftover tailor fabrics to create artistic outfits, including shorts and skirts. Seeing the children work with these materials helped us bring sustainability to life beyond the classroom. Rather than simply telling them that waste can be useful, we gave them the opportunity to experience it for themselves. Through our AI-generated videos and educational comics, we are also exploring creative ways to make environmental education easier and more engaging for children and young people. Our next goal is to expand this work through Project GreenMinds and equip 500 children with these skills by May 2028
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
One thing I have noticed is that we often tell children to stop littering and protect the environment, but how often do we actually show them what they can do with the things they throw away? That is one of the things we want to change through EcoRise Nexus. As earlier stated, during our visits to two schools and an orphanage, we worked with 131 children and taught them how to turn old cartons into gift and jewellery boxes using fabrics. We also showed them how to combine leftover tailor fabrics to create artistic outfits. These were simple activities, but they gave the children the chance to learn by doing rather than just listening to us talk about sustainability. We want to take this further by exploring different materials, from old clothes and fabric scraps to cartons, plastic spoons, and other disposable items, and helping young people discover what they can create from them. We also want them to understand that these skills can open up possibilities beyond the classroom. Another thing we are doing differently is using AI-assisted videos and educational comics to make sustainability easier for children to understand and enjoy. Our international webinar, which attracted over 900 registrations and brought together young speakers and participants from more than five countries, is another way we create spaces for young people to learn and exchange ideas. For us, innovation does not always mean inventing something nobody has ever seen before. Sometimes, it means taking an existing idea and finding a more engaging way to introduce it to people who need it. We want to make sustainability something young people can practise with their own hands, explore creatively, and share with others.
How many people are on your team?
12
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
EcoRise Nexus is led by a team of 11 executive members, including me as Founder and Executive Director. We have leads for programmes, sustainability education, waste-to-wealth innovation, digital media, communications, operations, finance, monitoring and evaluation, and community engagement, alongside a Deputy Executive Director.
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
Over the next few years, I want us to build on what we have started and make EcoRise Nexus more structured, so the work we are doing can continue to grow beyond our current team and activities. Our biggest goal is to equip 500 children with practical waste-to-wealth skills by May 2028 through Project GreenMinds. We plan to visit more schools and communities, where children can learn to turn disposable materials into useful products. We also want to keep records of our activities and follow up on what the children learn. Another important step is to establish EcoRise Nexus Ambassadorship cohorts. We want to train young people who can take sustainability education to their own schools and communities. This way, the impact will not depend only on how many places our team can physically visit. We will also create more educational videos and comics to make learning about the environment easier and more interesting for children. At the same time, we will work on improving how our team operates by setting clear responsibilities, reviewing our progress every quarter, and keeping track of what is working and what needs to change. To make these plans possible, we will engage more schools, community organisations, and potential funders who can support the programme as it grows. I want EcoRise Nexus to build a model that other communities can also adopt to train young people.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
One thing I have realised is that raising awareness is important, but giving people something they can actually do matters just as much. So far, we have engaged 131 children through visits to two schools and an orphanage, teaching them to turn discarded materials into creative items. We also hosted an international sustainability webinar that attracted over 900 registrations, with speakers and participants from more than five countries. Beyond these activities, we are building a community around our work. Our WhatsApp group has almost 1,000 students, our LinkedIn page has over 2,000 followers, and my personal platform connects me with a community of more than 20,000 young people and students. These platforms give us opportunities to share sustainability education, publicise our activities, and encourage more young people to get involved. We also use AI-assisted videos and educational comics to make environmental issues easier to understand. Going forward, we want to turn this reach into more active participation through our EcoRise Nexus Ambassadorship cohorts. We plan to equip young people to share what they learn, organise sustainability activities in their communities, and encourage others to take practical action. I want young people to see that they do not need to wait until they have a big platform, or a leadership position before they can make a difference.
